


The Great Divide Chapter 4: Hollow

by Antigravity_Carnivore



Series: The Great Divide [4]
Category: Breaking Benjamin (Band), STARSET (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Breaking Benjamin, F.E.C., Gay Male Character, Homosexuality, M/M, Male Slash, Rebellion, Science Fiction, starset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 14:55:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11015721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antigravity_Carnivore/pseuds/Antigravity_Carnivore
Summary: Under the influence of the F.E.C.'s brainwashing device, Thomas Bell begins to bring about the destruction of the Messengers. Can he be stopped?





	The Great Divide Chapter 4: Hollow

Thomas slid the ID card through the glowing slot and listened as the lock released with a satisfying click. He quickly shoved it back into a pocket and waited as the door slid open, allowing him access to Benjamin’s office. Stepping inside, his eyes were drawn to the desk sitting in the center of the room, and the great windows behind it, revealing a dramatic view of the barren landscape outside. It was now morning and the first rays of light were breaking over the mountains, casting everything that it touched with an eerie, amber glow. The first shift of work force for the base was settling in for the day, Thomas was watching them intently, taking pleasure from the fact that soon each one of these ‘rebels’ would soon be under control of the F.E.C., not to mention their ‘hero’ commander Benjamin as well. The ‘conversion’ process was already underway, and it would only be a few hours before it was complete, wiping all of his free will and making him a tool to be used against his own people. The thought of this pleased Thomas; it meant that he would be able to fulfill his mission and bring about the downfall of those who sought their pathetic ‘freedom’.

Sitting down at the Commander’s desk, he switched on the computer and waited for it to boot up, tapping his fingers impatiently. He looked around on the desk, and noticed how empty it was. There were no usual stacks of papers from prior briefings, or reports waiting to be read, nothing but a empty desk with only the computer sitting on it. Thinking this an odd thing, Thomas began to rummage through the desk drawers, pulling them open one at a time, all where empty as well. Not a single item inside of any of them, almost as if they had been hastily cleaned out. Before long the monitor flashed with the welcoming colors of the greeting screen and a text box popped up, requesting password access. Thomas let out a chuckle as his fingers started floating over the keys, typing lines of coding that would allow him to crack the password encrypted computer. Minutes passed by as he worked, and he could hear the sound of men working outside the huge window and glanced up in annoyance. One of them waved at Thomas in friendly greeting, and he rose to his feet quickly and drew the curtains. Even though the men were accustom to seeing Thomas in the Commander’s office, and knew of their friendship, he didn’t want to rouse any unwanted attention, not yet anyway, this part of his mission required secrecy, at least until the visor had taken control of Benjamin and he could be put to use. 

Returning to the computer, he sat back down and finished the code, soon the computer unlocked and Thomas glared at the desktop, satisfied at his own handiwork. It wasn’t hard for him to hack into the system, with the combined knowledge embedded inside of his brain by the F.E.C. and the stored technical knowledge that the vessel he currently inhabited, it was incredibly simple and elementary. His celebratory mood was short lived though, and premature. Thomas's jaw dropped and went slack in astonishment. The illuminated screen in front of him was blank. He stared at it in confusion. There was nothing on it, everything had been wiped clean. All the files, directories, encrypted data, everything was gone. “FUCK!” he shouted, and pounded his fist down on the desk. This was an unfortunate turn of events that he had not planned for. The lack of any information on the computer and missing files worried him, it meant that someone had come in during the night and deliberately removed them, while he was in Ben's private quarters. His mind raced, trying to think who could possibly be on to his motives. The only interaction he had during the night was with Benjamin, who had been more concerned with Dustin Bates than anything else, and Dr. Wise. Thomas swore under his breath, his suspicion growing. Rising from the chair, he paced for a few moments and then made his way out of Benjamin’s office and down the hall, waving and nodding casually at the few random people as he walked by, with a smile on his face, all the while, his anger growing. His deception was flawless, calculated, and perfect. The only person it could of possibly of been was Dr. Wise, and even if he was mistaken, the suspicion of doubt was there. Thomas knew that he had to remove the threat that the Doctor was. If he informed anyone of his suspicion with Thomas, the whole operation could be in danger. There were vital bits of information from the rebels that he needed to acquire before he could send the signal for the F.E.C. to come and annihilate the base, and getting this information would take a lot of time and patience, neither of which Thomas had time for. Then there was the matter of Dustin Bates. The F.E.C. had tried for months to get valuable information out of him, but they were never successful. The only thing that they were able to tap was the surface memories of Dustin and Benjamin’s life together. Turbulent, and painful, those memories were filled with such insanity, such confusion that it was uncertain whether or not they were truthful or just falsified hallucinations created by the brain to disguise what really happened. The F.E.C. peeled away layer after layer of Dustin’s memories, going deeper and deeper inside his mind, trying to find even a scrap of information, that would prove useful but instead ran into something unexpected, and that was the last, hidden remnants of something that was so powerful, so intense, that it had to be the source of Dustin’s ability to remain alive throughout all the torture, and that was his incessant and undying love for Benjamin Burnley. The thought of it left a bad taste in Thomas’s mouth and a strange aching pain in his chest.

The door slid open and Dr. Wise looked up from his computer, his glasses sliding down his nose, to Thomas and gave him a welcoming smile. “Good morning, Thomas. You’re up and about early today. How are you feeling? No more pain in your head I hope? You gave us quite a scare last night. You even frightened poor Lizzie, and I had to give her the day off to calm down a bit.”

Thomas made his way across the room, and glanced over to the viewing window to where Dustin Bates was laying, still deeply submerged in a coma. His body was remained attached to all the wires and tubes that were keeping him alive, but his breathing was stronger and more even now. The ashen white skin that had been stretched taught across his sunken cheekbones had now started to gain some color and depth, and to a casual observer, it looked like he was only just sleeping. Thomas didn’t even acknowledge the doctor’s greeting, lost in his thoughts for a moment, thinking about the man that lay there on the stretcher, with a feeling of hatred and animosity stirring inside of him. The mined memories and images flashed into his head and it made his heart sink. Why was he suddenly bombarded with these thoughts? He struggled to keep his mind focused on the task at hand. So much hate? He had to handle this situation gently. He was here to deal with the Doctor. Clearing his throat, he kept his gaze into the room beyond. “I’m fine. Any changes to him yet?”

Dr. Wise took a moment to glance at his notes. “There was some change last night…and…”

Thomas quickly looked over at the doctor. “What? What was it?”

“Well, if you weren’t so anxious to cut me off so suddenly and let me finish my sentence, Thomas, then maybe I would be able to tell you.” Dr. Wise scolded him with a stern look.

Thomas sighed and shook his head, still trying to force the anger back down. Where was this coming from? His heart beat rapidly and sweat beaded up on his forehead, something was wrong, he should not be feeling this way, it was almost like… jealousy. But why… what was he jealous of? 

“Late last night, or should I say, earlier this morning we noticed that there was definite brain activity showing on the monitors. It’s been growing in intensity over the past few hours. This could mean that his body is finally starting to heal, and he might come out of the coma with minimal damage. We've been pumping him with a mixture of chemicals that will reverse the atrophied muscles, limiting the amount of physical therapy he will need when he wakes up. There will only be a slight period of temporary paralysis which should wear off in a matter of hours. Of course we still don’t know what the F.E.C. did to him, but only time will tell with that. Every person’s body heals at different speeds; all we can do right now is wait and see.” Noticing Thomas looking uncomfortable, he stood up from his chair, pressing a button that turned the computer screen black and made his way over to him. “You’re looking unusually pale, Thomas. If you don’t mind I’d like to examine you, to make sure that there aren’t any prolonged after effects of your episode last night. The last thing we need is to have you out of commission; you are a invaluable asset here. ” He chuckled and gestured toward a seat with a friendly, open smile.

His eyes went back to Dustin, as he stared at the glass, still struggling with the conflicting emotions in his head. “No. I am fine. Don’t waste your time on me, you have to get him conscious, and the sooner the better.” He muttered. “I… I need to speak to him.” Thomas had come into the Infirmary to get information from the doctor, but now, seeing Dustin for the first time in this state had triggered something in him that was forcing him away from his primary directive. Keeping his thoughts focused, clear and on track was a struggle, and he knew that he had to leave soon, or else risk being suspicious. 

“I wasn’t asking you, Thomas.” Dr. Wise said in a not-so-friendly tone. “You suffered a major neurological episode last night, not to mention breaking into the storage and stealing narcotics. This is a huge violation of regulations, you above all people should know this, you wrote them. Don’t think that you’re above it all, because you’re not. There are countless people here in these bases that are all depending on you for safety and security. Thousands of them! How would they feel if this information became public? Think about it.” He stopped, approached Thomas, and changed his tone to a gentler one. “I know you’re tired. Let me help you.”

Something snapped inside of him as a tremor shot down Thomas's spine and he involuntarily shuddered, a thousand memories suddenly came crashing into his skull at once. Fingers touching bare flesh, a feather light kiss on his hipbone, dark eyes looking up at him with desire. Benjamin’s eyes. Their bodies pressed together, locked together in a lover’s embrace, the heat from Ben’s skin burning against him, hotter and more intense than the midday sun. Then the point of view changed, and he was no longer witnessing his own memory, but that of Dustin and Ben, their bodies entwined intimately with each other, kissing, touching, feeling, laughing.... at him. Each memory brought exquisite pleasure and pain at the same time, scrambling his brain and making him nauseous. He leaned forward and rested his forehead on the glass, it felt cool and comforting. He closed his eyes and spoke softly. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, my head… it hurts so badly. The pain is all I can think about, it’s consuming me, picking away at the edges, forcing me into the darkness. I keep trying to hide from it, but it’s coming closer and closer. I’m hiding in the corner, I know it’s going to find me.” Thomas struggled with the words, these were not his own. It was his voice, but not his thoughts, where was this coming from? What was he talking about? His mind raced trying to take control of the situation. 

Dr. Wise looked to Thomas intently, trying his best to calm and reassure the man. “Hey you’ve been through a lot, son. Why don’t you come lay down in the bed over there and relax for a bit, we’re going to get you taken care of.” Trying to keep his voice steady, the doctor was stunned and taken back by his sudden revelation and confession, and attempted to make sense out of it all. He reached out and placed a hand on Thomas’s arm. “I will get you settled, take care of that pain, and we will send for Benjamin, everything will be alright.”

“Ben?” Thomas opened his eyes to look at Dustin in the opposite room, placing his fingertips on the glass, he let them run down the smooth surface, never tearing his eyes off him, as a tear rolled down his cheek. Animosity and hate rolled through him, he wanted to break the thin layer of glass that separated the rooms and slip his fingers around Dustin’s neck, but a reason eluded him. He pressed his eyes together tightly, wanting the peaceful darkness to wash over him so he could think. These were the repressed emotions that the real Thomas had locked away deep inside of him, and the visor must of unlocked and heightened them a hundred percent. His brain was being short circuited and firing in all the wrong directions, and Thomas struggled to keep his sanity. “Benjamin, oh fuck, what have I done? What have I done to him?” He opened his eyes and looked back to the observation room again. “I see them inside my head; I FEEL them inside of me, all the love, all the pain… the sweet, dear agony that consumes them. It’s horribly beautiful.”

With a concerned look on his face, the doctor tugged at Thomas trying to pull him away from the window, but he was younger and much larger than the old frail man and he refused to move. He considered getting a sedative injection to calm Thomas down, but he didn’t want to leave him alone, he feared that Thomas would bolt out the door, and in his current mental condition, it would be disastrous. Dr. Wise knew that he had to do everything that was possible to keep his friend here until it had passed. “Tom… hey, look at me. This is just exhaustion, that’s all. Get yourself together; you can do this, okay? I can help you, but you’ve got to let me. Now, take a deep breath, and relax.” He tightened his grip on Thomas’s arm, letting the young man know that he meant business. “Take a seat; I can help you with the pain.”

Thomas stood still for a moment, his eyes glazed over and hazy. He let the doctor lead him over to a chair and he sank down into it and when he was satisfied that he wasn’t going anywhere, busied himself with looking through the carts for something to calm him. He knew that if Thomas were to suddenly turn violent, it wouldn’t end well for him in his old age. In an effort to keep his mind occupied, he called out to him from across the room while rummaging. “Thomas, you said ‘they’ who are ‘they’?”

Speaking in a low tone, Thomas rested his elbows on his knees and sunk his head down. “Dustin, Benjamin, and Thomas. I have their memories. I have their emotions and feelings. All of them. Inside of me. Everything jammed together from a long time ago, expanding inside of my skull, making me feel as they did. It’s too much at once, my head is going to burst open. I can’t control them.” He muttered.

The doctor found the injector and armed it, walking back to Thomas where he knelt down in front of him, fascinated, forgetting about the sedative for the moment, intrigued. “Of course you’re going to have Thomas’s memories and feelings, that’s you, boy.” He leaned in closer. “How are you able to feel Dustin and Benjamin? You’ve only come into contact with Bates a few hours ago, and he had been unconsciousness or connected to the F.E.C. device for most of the time, the only way to share their collective memories is if you—oh my God…” Dr. Wise stopped, and gasped as realization hit him. He clutched tightly at the injector in his hand. “Thomas, what have you done? Where is Benjamin?”

Thomas turned his head slowly and met the doctor’s gaze with intensity. A flash of sorrow came across this face for a moment. “I’m sorry” he whispered as he slowly rose to his feet. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I don’t have a choice. I can’t fight them anymore. I have to go. There’s something I have to take care of.” He turned away and was at the door in moments. Seeing a chance to make his move, Dr. Wise lunged at Thomas with the intention of injecting him with the sedative, but Thomas was too quick for him, and turned back around at the last moment, grabbing his wrist and crushing it tightly in his fingers. The doctor let out a cry of pain and tried to pull away, but Thomas grabbed him by the neck and slammed the elderly man against the glass to the observation room with a loud thud. His vision was filled with stars as the back of his skull impacted the hard surface and left him in a dazed state. Thomas released him and let the doctor slowly sink down to the floor, then knelt down beside him. A thin trickle of blood oozed from the corner of his mouth. Thomas reached out and pulled the doctor’s glasses off his face, then tossed them aside, where they scattered along the floor and ended up near the door. Thomas picked up the injector and placed it neatly in the pocket of his flight jacket. “You are now going to tell me what you have done with the encrypted files for the base.” He leaned closer as the doctor moaned in extreme pain. The sudden thrust against the wall had damaged his spine, and he was desperately fighting to keep conscious. “I know you cleaned out Benjamin’s office, so you must of transferred them to someone, I want to know who.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Tom. Please, you need to stop this insanity. If you used the visor, we can find a way to reverse the process. You asked me to help you.” Dr. Wise reached up with a shaking hand and placed it alongside of Thomas’s face. “I am… pleading…begging you, don’t do this, let me help you.”

Pulling the doctor’s hand away from his cheek, Thomas remained silent and went over to the computer, and started to browse through the files, talking to himself. “Useless, useless, USELESS!” He looked over to the doctor again, resting his elbows casually on the desk in front of him. “Dr. Wise…. Aston… I am going to give you one more chance. Tell me where you sent the files.”

“Tom. I had nothing to do with that. I am a doctor, for Christ sake! Please stop this.”

Thomas tapped his fingers across the desk, staring at the monitor and then leaned forward. “You’re right, this is torture, we ~should stop this I suppose.” He smiled and then reached out for the mouse, turning his attention back to the computer.

Doctor Wise struggled to try to pull himself up, but a quick shot of pain running down his spine immediately ended the attempt and he bit his lip to keep from crying out in agony. Propping himself up as best that he could on one arm, he craned his neck over, trying to catch a glimpse of what Thomas was so absorbed in on the computer. There were no top secret files, or access codes to the base on the hard drive, at all, only patient information and programs that ran the medical devices in the observation room. “Oh god.” Doctor Wise shook his head. “Thomas, he’s a innocent man. This is murder.”

Thomas paid no attention to the old man’s words and continued about his task, ending programs and canceling the life support systems that were attached to the patient in the next room. Within moments, the monitors went dark and alarms started chirping with their warning alert of inment shut down. He slowly rose from the chair and came over to lean down next to the suffering doctor. “He’s not innocent! If you have seen the things that I have, the sorrow and grief that he’s caused, you’d understand too.” He pointed to the next room. “That man doesn’t belong here.”

“Tom. He’s not going to take Ben away from you. Benjamin loves you. You should know that by now, half of the base knows it but never says anything. Why can’t you accept that? What has happened to you to make you say and do these things?”

A wave of rage crashed into Thomas, hitting him with such intensity and anger all at once, and he screamed at the doctor at his feet. “LOVE? Benjamin doesn’t know the meaning of the word Love! You are all just puppets to him, can’t you see that? Thomas knows this but is afraid to act, but I am not.” He held his hands to his head for a moment, trying to get a grip on the flood of feelings that were pouring into him and spilling out with great animosity. The brainwashing device had malfunctioned, and had not completely deleted the emotions from it’s previous victims and now was intensifying them and releasing them into his brain with such ferocity, that he could not control. Lashing out, Thomas pulled his arm back out and punched the doctor in the stomach, causing him to topple over in a miserable heap on the floor. He slowly stood up, pushing the dark curls of his hair out of his eyes and away from his face. “Do you know what I am going to do? I am going to completely destroy him and everything that he loves. It’s fitting punishment for what he has done to others. This time, Benjamin Burnley will be the victim.” With a horrifying calm look on his face Thomas took a step back and kicked the incapacitated doctor, aiming at his ribcage several times until he no longer cried out or made a sound. After he stopped moving, Thomas sighed to himself and glanced over to the observation room, where he could see Dustin laying on the table, his breathing now ragged and labored, coming in quick gasps. Without the life support systems keeping his body alive, he was going into renal failure, and his organs were shutting down one at a time. A smile of delight ran over Thomas's face, and then as Dustin’s body became wracked with spasms and seizures, he turned on his foot and headed out the door. He’d be dead within moments. Thomas hesitated, and listened for a moment, hearing the predictable beep of the heart monitor. The seconds between the beats grew longer and longer, until suddenly it stopped. Flat line. Dustin Bates heart had stopped beating. Two down. Walking down the corridor, Thomas knew where he had to go next. The F.E.C. had given him a clear set of directives and mission objectives to accomplish, but now he had his own. He would make sure that Benjamin Burnley would suffer an excruciating death at it would be at his own hands. 

I was drifting, soaring, floating in a merciful darkness of warmth and delight. How long I have been here, I couldn’t tell but I didn’t want to leave. Nothing mattered here. There was no love, no hate, only endless dark skies that I wandered in for hours. I was safe from everything in my own little universe, until that first blinding pain shot through me and into my chest. I screamed out in the darkness, and I felt my heart thud, and then another, and another. The stagnant blood started flowing freely through my veins again, bringing nerves alive with it. The warmth that I had surrounded myself with started to leave me, melting away and leaving a biting, icy coolness in it’s place. I shivered uncontrollably as I was ripped out of my darkness and thrust into a world of pain and blinding light. My arms felt as though they were on fire, while the rest of my body was filling with a strange numbness that frightened me. I struggled to open my eyes and immediately started to gag, panicking and thrashing about. I couldn’t breathe. Something was in my throat, blocking my airway, I tried to raise my arms up to grasp at it, but they didn’t respond as I wanted, my movements sluggish and clumsy. I started to panic. I couldn't get air into my lungs. Eventually my fingers wrapped around it, a large plastic tube that was shoved completely down my throat, it was a breathing tube. Why? Grasping at it with fingers that were hard to control, I managed to grab hold of it and pulled, my gag reflex instantly kicking in and my entire body retching as the last bit of tube cleared my throat. I let my arms drop back down against the bed, almost completely exhausted from the exertion and gazed at them dully. There were various needles buried deep within my veins, attached to plastic tubing that should have been pumping liquids in, however, the machines didn’t seem to be working, at all, as a matter of fact, all the machines around me were dark, their monitors black. Was I in the hospital? What happened to me? I tried to remember, but I couldn’t.

“Hello?” I tried to call out, but I had no voice. The sound came out as nothing more than a pathetic croak. My throat was torn from the breathing tube, and parched dry from dehydration. Calling out for help wasn't going to work. Forcing myself to remain calm, I pulled my upper body into a sitting position and glanced around. It looked like a hospital, but all the devices sitting around were like things I have never seen before. Highly detailed and complicated, they appeared to be far advanced in design and function. Looking down at my arms again, I grasped hold of the tubes and yanked the needles out. The penetration site immediately started to bleed profusely, but I didn’t mind. The warmth of the blood on my cold skin pleased me, it gave me hope that my body still had some feeling left in it. Reaching up, to my head, I felt the tiny electrode adhesive pads attached at my temples, and ripped them off, quickly casting them aside. Looking around, I could see that there was a large viewing window that took up the entire length of the room on one side, with a door leading into the next room. I squinted my eyes, trying to see if I could make out anything from the room beyond, but without my glasses, I knew that it was futile. All I could see was darkness. I brought my hands up to my face and examined them, my skin was very pale and almost translucent. I could see the blue veins crisscrossing underneath the flesh as clear as day. Looking at my wrists, I let out a slight gasp, there were fading pink scars on both which ran very deep below the surface. I rubbed them and shuddered. It was a obvious sign of trauma. How long had I been asleep for? What happened to me? Where was I? Not knowing was making me feel anxious and I knew that I had to get myself up and out of the small room to find answers or else I'd go insane. 

Putting all my strength in my upper arms, I forced my body into a sitting position and yanked the blankets off my bare legs. More scars encircled my ankles. I tried to wiggle my toes, but the maximum effort only left me with minimal results. Reaching down, I massaged the muscles, desperately trying to get blood flowing back into them. Alone in my room, I listened for any sounds that would give away my location, any sound of footsteps or movement outside from someone that could help me, but there was nothing. I pulled my useless legs over the side of the bed and then I heard it, a unmistakable thump against the wall with the observation window. “Hello?” I tried calling out again, but it was barely audible. Something told me to move. Taking a breath, I grabbed hold of the side of the bed and dropped my legs down to the floor. I couldn't feel the cold tile under my feet and a wave of panic began to set in. I glanced up to see my reflection looking back at me in the observation window, and I was taken back by the sight in front of me. My hair was much longer now than it had ever been, except where there were strange clumps missing. I reached up and gingerly touched those spots to find painful, sore spots that were still caked with dried blood. As I probed them with my fingertips, I felt a wave of pain shoot through my head; the wounds seem to go right through the bone and into my skull. This wasn't right. I had to get out of here. With great caution, I started to put weight on my legs. I was standing now, but barely. Breathing a sigh of relief, I let go of the corner of the bed and immediately collapsed down to the floor. Too much, too fast. “Damn it!” I pounded my fist against the tile floor and fought to regain my senses. I couldn't let panic overcome me. My legs were working, but taking a very long time to come back, and time was something that I didn't have. Using my upper body, I pulled myself over to the corner of the room where the door was that separated the two rooms. I stretched up, waking up even more muscles to reach the handle above my head. Something in the back of my mind told me not to expect it to work, it was going to be locked, but much to my surprise, it was unlocked and I was able to open it with ease. Pulling it open, I dragged myself through the open door and into the room beyond.

The first thing I noticed was the large amount of medical devices lining the walls of the room. Much like the ones in the previous room, I had never seen or heard of such advanced technology before. Everything seemed to be the perfect setting for a sci fi movie. A large desk with a computer and various piles of notes sat in the center of the room, and I started to crawl over to it when I heard the thud again, this time to my immediate right. I glanced over and saw a shape against the wall, and then almost instantly realized what it was. Laying there was a man, wearing a white lab coat, curled up in a ball, his face covered in blood and barely breathing. A little more strength had returned to my legs and I went over to his side, and rolled him over onto his back, he was alive, but barely. The wounds that I could see had obviously been inflicted by a another person, who had attacked the man and left him for dead. I sat still, my mind wondering what I should do when he moaned and opened his eyes a little. I don't know who was more startled, him seeing me, or me seeing him. His eyes fluttered and unfocused for a moment and then he reached up to touch the side of my face. “Dustin Bates? You are alive?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper. 

It took me a moment to realize that he was talking to me. Of course that was my name, why had I forgotten it for a moment? I nodded and loosened the collar of his shirt and untied his bow tie to give him some breathing room. “Yeah, hey you're going to be okay. I am going to find some help for you, just hang on.” To my surprise, he reached up and grabbed hold of the front of the hospital gown that I was wearing, and clutched at it tightly.

“You have to find him before Thomas does. He's unstable and is going to kill him! Please!” he begged. I could see the panic in his eyes. 

I was dumbstruck. I didn't know what to do. I tried my best to calm him. “This Thomas person, is that who did this to you?” I asked, trying my best to make sense of the whole situation. The man in the white coat nodded, wincing in obvious pain. “I will go find him, as soon as I get you help.”

“No!” he moaned. “There's no time. Do not waste any more time on me. I am dying. Please Dustin, go now. I am begging you. Thomas must be stopped; he doesn't know what he's doing. Take my ID card, it will give you access to nearly the entire base.” He reached up and slid the card into my hand, curling his fingers over mine and holding onto it as tightly as he could. As I held him in my arms, I could feel his breathing start to slow, and a bubble of blood formed on his lips as his eyes started closing. The man was fading quickly and there was nothing I could do. I felt completely helpless. “Promise me... please.”

“Yes, you have my word.” As soon as I spoke those words, I almost instantly regretted saying them. I didn't know who this 'Thomas’ was or where to look, or even where I was either. The extent of my knowledge was that I was here, sitting in an unknown location with a man dying in my lap, making a promise to track down someone with murderous rage in his heart. The last thing I wanted to do now was chase after some psychotic killer. Almost as if he was reading my mind, the old man parted his lips and whispered something. I bent down, bringing my ear closer to hear what he was saying. 

With his dying breath, he whispered. “He's going after Benjamin Burnley. Stop him. Please..” the hand that had been holding mine dropped and his body went slack with his last word. I stared down at him in shock. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This wasn’t possible. Benjamin couldn’t be here, then again, I didn’t exactly know where ‘here’ was. He gave up his life for me, sacrificed all that he was so that I could go on and live a life of my own. He was my own personal demon and angel, the soul that I couldn’t be without, the man who stole my heart, and the one who broke it. He gave me so much, and yet took so much from me. I feeling of loss crept into me, I was missing something, something important to me.. what was it? I struggled for a few moments to make sense of it all, but thinking was difficult, my memories hazy and unclear. The more I struggled to remember, the harder it became. I looked down at the man in my arms, and gingerly I reached out and felt for a pulse in his neck, there was nothing. He was gone. He had given me a warning about finding someone named Thomas who was a danger, and I knew that I had to go find this person. I gently eased his body back down to the floor and slid off his white lab coat. Thankfully it only had a few minor drops of blood on the collar, not enough to get noticed. I clipped the badge that he had given me onto one of the pockets and slipped into the soft fabric quickly. I was bound to raise some questions by going around outside of the room wearing nothing more than a hospital gown and a lab coat, but I really had no other choice. If the person in danger truly was Benjamin…my Ben… then I had to go as quick as possible and not fuss around with details. I needed to find him. 

Grabbing hold of the edge of the desk, I tried to pull myself onto my feet with all my strength, and distribute the weight of my body evenly on incredibly numb legs, but it was a slow process. I was starting to have feelings and sensation in the lower half of my body now, but I was in no shape for running, when walking was going to be a great accomplishment. I wasn’t about to give up though, he wouldn’t give up on me, and I knew I couldn’t let him down. Taking one step at a time, I pulled myself up to the desk and into the chair in front of the computer. As I sat down, the computer switched on, filling the screen with various medical charts and reports, all of which were mine. I scanned through it, looking at a record of the last few months of my life. My hands started to shake and my heart raced. The same questions popped into my head again, where was I, how did I get here, and who did this to me? I could remember the feeling of a early morning breeze on my face, flashes of salt water being splashed on my cheeks and being absorbed in a blanket of black feathers, then nothing. What happened that day? I couldn’t remember. The reports made note of some sort of brainwashing 'visor'. I shuddered, the process sounded horrendous. Sighing to myself, I clumsily pulled myself back to my feet, these would be questions that I would have to have answered on another day. Right now, I had to my promise to this man, and get help as soon as I could. 

Making my way to the door, something shiny caught my eye and I made my way over to it. I bent down and picked up a pair of black framed glasses that had been carelessly thrown across the floor. One of the lenses had a small crack in it, but they were in otherwise decent shape. I looked back over to the body on the floor, they must of belonged to the murdered doctor. My stomach turned at the thought of the violence that he must of been subjected to in the final moments of his life. Bringing the glasses up to my face to examine them, I noticed how close to my own prescription that they were. Without thinking, I slipped them on, and my vision instantly improved. I felt a little like my old self again, whoever that was. I gathered my strength and swiped the card that released the door, taking one last look back at the man. I didn’t know whether or not I was going to be able to find the person he was looking for, but I was going to try. I promised. I broke a promise once before, I wouldn't do it again. 

Thomas stormed into the room where the unconscious Benjamin was sleeping. He waited until the door slid shut, not evening bothering to lock it behind him and then across the room to bed where his body was. With a snarl, Thomas curled his hands around the folds of fabric on the front of Ben’s shirt and pulled on it, causing his back to arch and his body to rise off the sheets. The visor still attached to his face pulsed a dull orchid color, signaling that the conversion process was still ongoing. Thomas didn’t care. He shook Ben’s body with force, shouting loudly. “I fucking hate you. I hate every god damn thing about you and all your ‘Messengers’ here too. I despise everything you stand for. I don’t give two shits about your little rebellion against the F.E.C. anymore. They can burn you down to the ground for all I care… but you, you Benjamin Burnley are a disease that needs to be eradicated.” He let go of Ben’s shirt and his body dropped back down to the bed with a thud. A slight moan escaped his lips. Thomas took a step back away from the bed, and started pacing, his mind was being bombarded with too much information all at once. Thomas's memories, Benjamin’s memories and Dustin’s memories all invaded his brain at once, trying to fight for space, and then the emotions and feelings slipped on through, being missed by a deletion of the visor during the conversion process, causing him to go mentally spiraling out of control. 

“Do you know how much Thomas loves you? Do you know how much I love you Benjamin?” he screamed. “I/we would be willing to lay down and die for you, and you just take this love and cast it aside, because you love Dustin Bates! Did you make Thomas spend all that time locating him just so you can have him back and then cast Thomas aside? Did you ever want him in the first place?” Thomas’s pacing brought him over to Benjamin’s computer. He sat down in the chair and started at the blank screen. There was so much conflict inside of him, so much animosity and hurt that it was overpowering him. He brought his fingers to the keyboard, hesitating for a moment and then started typing. Soon a box popped up on the screen, signaling a secure connection back to the F.E.C. headquarters. He spoke to Ben as he typed. “Do you know how humiliating it is to report back to your superior that you’ve failed in a mission? Huh? No, of course you don’t because you never fail at anything.” He shook his head. “I can’t tell them that I’ve acquired the files that they requested, I can’t tell them that I am still moving in secret, working on getting the files either. So you know what I AM telling them? I am telling them that I am out of my fucking mind. But seriously, right now as you’re just laying there sleeping away, I am sending the F.E.C. the coordinates to your base, and in a matter of hours, you won’t have to worry about protecting your little secrets and rebels because there won’t be any left. The F.E.C. will come down and rain hellfire on all of you here, torching everything, and then when the fires die down and all that is left are the screams of the families here grieving their loved ones, that is when they will send in the Carnivores, and when they come, they will devour everything that they can. Have you heard the sound of them snapping the bones of their victims and sucking the marrow out? It’s quite a beautiful sound.” Thomas closed communication with the F.E.C. with a loud click of a keystroke and sat back on the chair, nonchalantly. “My work is almost done, which is good, because I don’t know how much longer this body is going to last, Thomas's brain is pretty much pudding right now.” He stood up and made his way back over to the bed, and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “And by the way, because this is the last thing that you’re probably going to hear, I thought you’d might like to know. Today.. I watched Dustin Bates die, it was wonderful. His heart stopped beating for you, for him for the last time.”

A tear ran down Benjamin’s cheek, and Thomas kissed it away. “You are amazing, do you know that Ben? Even lost in your own dreams, you hear me. That’s why Thomas/I fell in love with you, you’re magnificent.” Thomas ran his fingers over Ben’s unconscious body, tracing invisible patterns across his chest. The dull orchid light from the visor lightly illuminated the room, bathing them in a soft incandescent light, as Thomas crawled up on top of Ben’s body and straddled him. The feeling of his warm skin felt wonderful between Thomas’s legs, filling him with a strange new set of emotions. Reaching out with delicate fingers, he unbuttoned Ben’s black shirt and let it fall open on the bed, revealing the vast plane of his perfectly chiseled chest. His fingers ran along each of the muscles, tracing each one with a delicate touch. He bent down and kissed Ben’s chest, his lips warm and greedy to taste the flesh that reflected the dull light so wonderfully. Pulling his body up a little, Thomas ran his hands down over the sides of Ben’s ribs, feeling each of the bones beneath the skin, and leaned down, letting his chest meet Ben’s and kissed his exposed throat. Thomas’s body trembled with excitement, he craved more. He moved his lips up to Ben’s jawline, tasting and licking at the tender flesh as he stretched his slender frame over Ben’s. The sensation of the magnificent, powerful body underneath him was euphoric. Thomas brought his lips, hungry and desperate up to Ben’s. Looking past the visor, he gazed into Ben’s deep green eyes, which were slightly clouded over in his dream state, totally entranced and focused on his current reality. He placed one hand alongside of his cheek, stroking his fingers along his cheek bone, while the other wandered down over Ben’s chest and stomach, and slipped down into the folds of his pants, coming to rest between his legs, his fingers gliding along the thick shaft of flesh with delight. With his lips pressed against Ben’s, Thomas whispered. “I hate you.” Parting his lips, he placed a deep, lustful kiss on Ben’s lips, inhaling deeply, drawing in the breath from his lungs and taking it into his own. 

The bright, florescent light of the hallway hit my eyes all at once as I exited the Infirmary, searing into my skull and momentarily blinding me. I blinked hard against the light and leaned against the closest wall, waiting for my eyes to adjust and get my bearings. Looking around, I could see that I was in some sort of military facility, with long, empty halls stretching out in every direction. The building wasn’t in best shape, as there were cracks on the walls that ran from floor to ceiling, and dark discolored spots where the roof had been compromised, letting the water leak in. Willing my feet to move, I started off down the hallway, my bare feet carrying my still sore and tired body along the wall, moving only a few feet at a time. After a few minutes, I started to feel light headed, and my chest felt tight. I stopped and leaned back against a door, closing my eyes and waiting for the feeling to go away. Whatever had been done to me, obviously had side effects, which now were becoming very apparent. I knew I had to keep moving on, I had to find Ben. Ben could explain everything that was happening to me, I just knew that he could. I was anxious to see him again, my chest was pounding with excitement. I didn’t know what I was going to say to him, words seemed too insignificant at this point. All I wanted to do was run right up to him and be in his arms, protected safe and warm. There was so many things I wanted to say to him. I had to find him, nothing else mattered. A sudden flash of memory flickered into my head, someone I knew, a place I had once been. My bloody hands were holding on so tightly to his neck, squeezing with all my strength. He looked at me and with his dying breath whispered ‘I love you Dustin’. This wasn't Ben, who was this? Then I felt the sickening crushing of his throat being crushed by my hands and his body dropping down to the floor. I couldn’t stop myself from screaming.

There was a light touch on my arm. My eyes shot opened and I was face to face with a wide-eyed woman dressed in medical scrubs. “Sir? Are you okay?” she asked with a truly concerned look on her face. 

The hallway was slightly spinning and I started to feel faint, my legs not wanting to support me any longer. I reached out for her, keeping my eyes on the floor. “I need to find him, can you help me?” I looked up to her face, hoping that she could see the seriousness in my eyes.

“Oh goodness! You’re Dustin Bates! Oh my gosh, you’re finally awake!! Wait.. why are you out of the Infirmary? Come on, we have to go back, you shouldn’t be out here, Dr. Wise needs to be notified.” She caught sight of the dried blood on my arms from the IV needles and then the borrowed lap coat and gave me a suspicious look. 

I knew what she was thinking, I had to gain control over the situation as quickly as possible and make her understand. “Listen… something bad has happened. I don’t understand it all just yet, but you NEED to take me to Ben, as fast as possible, please. He might be in danger.”

“Ben? You mean Commander Burnley?” she asked, curious and still apprehensive. 

I nodded. This was taking too long, I had to get moving. I glanced at her name patch. “Lizzie, the doctor is dead, and the person who did it is after your Commander.” I felt odd using a military term to refer to Ben, but it seemed appropriate. “Now you have two choices. One is to run back to the Infirmary and waste time looking at a dead body, or you can help me find Ben—“ I stumbled over the name. Only his close friends would call him by the short form of his name. “Benjamin, and we might be able to save his life. Even if you suspect me for doing something to the doctor, you’d be handing me over to the person in charge anyway, I obviously can’t run anywhere, so please… help me find Benjamin.”

It took her only a few seconds to make a decision. She pulled my arm over her shoulder. “He’s not in his office, I was there only a few moments ago to drop off reports, we can check his private quarters, and if he’s not there, I am taking you right down to security, got that?”

“Yes. We’re wasting time, help me.” She half dragged, half carried me through a maze of corridors and dimly lit hallways. We didn't pass anyone, which was odd. There were no windows, natural light or skylights. As we ventured further into the base, it became more desolate and dimly lit. After several minutes, we came to stop near a cluster of closely lined doors down a nondescript hall. She pointed at the large metal door near the end, it was just as plain as all the others, with no markings on it at all. It could have been a storage room, judging from the outside appearance. A small key reader flashed green on the outside. “This is it?” I asked. 

A look of worry came across her face as she nodded. “That’s odd, the door isn’t locked.” Reaching out for the handle, I stopped her, resting my hand on top of hers. She looked at me questioningly. 

“Lizzie, you need to go back now, get security, tell them about Dr. Wise and then come back here.” 

“No. If the Commander is in trouble, I can help him.” She protested.

I stood up as straight as I could, a little more feeling finally returning to my legs and feet. “I know you want to help, but if Thomas is in there, and if he puts up a struggle, you will be putting yourself in danger, and I can’t protect you, not right now.”

Her hands went over her mouth to let out a stifled cry. “Thomas? Thomas Bell killed Dr. Wise? No! I can’t believe it, you’re lying!” 

“Lizzie..” Before I could say another word, she slipped away from me and began running back down the hall at full sprint, gone before I knew it. I was grateful that she had left, but I knew that I would only have a short time to myself before she would alert others. I only wished that she would believe my words, and trust that what I said was the truth. 

With shaking hands, I pushed the door open and peered inside. The room was quiet and dark. My eyes took a moment to adjust, and as I stepped inside, I could see the dull orchid glow of some sort of light in the far corner of the room but not much else. The door slid silently shut behind me, and I walked through the room, coming closer to the light. Within a few feet away from it, my heart stopped for the second time today. As my eyes adjusted, I could see him laying there on the bed, looking as handsome and perfect as I had remembered him. My Benjamin. His one arm hung off the side of the bed, his fingers bend in odd angles that resembled claws that occasionally twitched, and his eyes were open and fixed on something. He could of almost been sleeping, except for two things.. one was the source of the light in the room, an odd visor that seemed to be embedded in his temples, covering his eyes, and the slender man looming over his body, sitting on top of it, who now turned and looked at me with a stare of pure hatred. 

I knew who it was, without even asking. Something in my head told me that this was Thomas, the man who I had been sent after. He looked familiar, had I met him before? His medium length curly hair fell down in swirls around his bare shoulders, his shirt was discarded on the floor, leaving his narrow chest exposed and the front of his khaki pants were unzipped and pulled open, obvious evidence of what he was up to. I felt sick. As he saw me, he sat up, arching his back and glaring at me. “Bates.” He growled, his voice low and visceral. “I guess pulling the plug on you didn’t work after all.”

I balled my hand into a fist. I had no idea what his motives were or what he was even doing, but I knew that I had to stop it. “Get off him.” I insisted. 

He raised an eyebrow and traced a finger over one of Ben’s nipples, teasingly. “And if I choose not to? Then what? Are you going to kill me?” He laughed and it echoed loudly in the room. “I know all about you Dustin Bates. I know that you’re not capable of murder.” 

As he spoke, a pain shot through my head. The room disappeared in a flash of white light. I closed my eyes to shield them from it, when I finally opened them again, I saw a body of a man laying on the floor in front of me. It was not peacefully laying on the stage, in the sweet repose of slumber, but sprawled out in a display of gore and horror. There were large, gaping wounds sliced into his skin, from his torso to his neck, obviously made with some dull object that ripped instead of sliced. Who was this? His flesh was bruised and battered in multiple spots, with horrid patches of discoloration whispering a tale of severe torture. There was a look of sheer terror on his face, frozen forever in a state of perpetual panic, or perhaps betrayal. I dropped down to my knees and was met with a wave of pain from my broken ribs, shivering and shaking. “I did this...”   
Another flash of light and it was gone. What the hell was that, was it a memory? Was it my memory? It felt so intense. I looked up to Thomas who was still sitting on top of Ben, perched over his pelvis with a look of immense pride on his face. I lowered my voice. “I said, get off him!” 

“Why? So you can spend the last hour of your life on this planet in his arms? No. I won’t grant you that mercy. He belongs to the F.E.C. now. His mind is ours, and his body will belong to Thomas again.” He raised an eyebrow at me, and cocked his head to the side. “Oh that’s right, you don’t know. Benjamin and I have been lovers, for a very long time. There were nights when I came in here and found him sobbing, crying and drinking himself half to death, depressed and angst ridden over losing you. I’d pull him into my arms and convince him that everything was going to be okay. You wounded his heart, pierced it and put a gaping hole there, leaving him with nothing but a cold emptiness.” He reached out and stroked Ben’s cheek. “Then Thomas came along, filled that hole with love and compassion. They fell in love, until word spread that you had been taken captive by the F.E.C. and then he spent all of his time trying to figure out a way to get you back, suddenly there was a rift, a great divide between Thomas and Benjamin. Who do you think could of possibly leaked that information? Who found you?” He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now anyway. Because soon everyone will be gone. All three of us included. I am just pleased that I had the opportunity to explain this all to you before you die, because Thomas never could say these words, so I will.”

I struggled to understand what he was talking about. I shook my head, all wanted was to get him away from Benjamin. “You’re insane.” I muttered.

“Maybe so.” He mocked me and shrugged his arms. “Dustin Bates, as you stand here at the end of your life, there is one important thing that you must know… and that is…” He leaned forward just a bit, the light reflecting in his eyes and giving him a sinister, evil appearance. “He fucked me harder, and so much better than he did to you.” Thomas laughed.

“Mother fucker!” I shouted and lunged forward with all the strength that I could find. Intent on pulling him off Ben at all costs. My attempt was cut short though, as the weakness still had not left my body, and my legs buckled underneath me, and I fell down to the floor. I landed a foot or so away from the side of the bed, in a heap and looked up to see Thomas smiling down at me in delight. Suddenly, the door to the room slid open, and a squad of security men and the nurse Lizzie came piling into the room, their weapons drawn. Thomas looked from them to me in panic, and a sense of relief washed over me. Seconds passed, and then I saw him reach down and curl his fingers around the transparent visor that was connected to Ben’s face. From the angle where I was sitting, I could see the vast network of tiny, almost microscopic cables and lasers that attached the device to Ben’s head, and instantly I knew what Thomas was going to do. I cried out, “NO!” With every bit of strength that I could manage, I struggled to pull myself up onto the mattress and grab hold of Thomas’s arm, but I was just a second too late. The moment he got a grip on the visor; his fingers gripping around the edges, he started to pull, and it flashed from the soothing orchid to a warning orange color, and then a bright warning red. His elbow pulled back and the wires and needles bored into Ben’s temples started to tear and rip at his head. The laser uploading transfer now dislodged from it’s homing position, searing lines of flesh as it was ripped away. Ben’s body rose slightly off the bed, and he let out a blood curdling scream of pain as the last of the tubes snapped free from his head, dripping with spots of blood that landed all over the white sheet. His eyes closed and he fell back down, bleeding profusely from the wounds in his head as well as from his ears and nose. Thomas slid off of him and towered over me, holding the blinking visor in his hand like some sort of prize. The broken needles and ripped tubes oozed with collected blood and tissue, creating a gruesome image that made Thomas look more like and monster than a man. 

“He’s all yours now, Bates. Enjoy what’s left, if there is anything left.” Gesturing grandly, he tossed the device down at my feet and calmly walked toward the security, who quickly apprehended him and escorted him out of the room, only Lizzie stayed behind. She kept her distance and remained silent. 

I pulled myself up to the bed and reached out for Ben. “No, no... Ben...” I sobbed. He was ashen pale and surrounded by so much blood. It seeped down from the corners of his eyes, making it look like he had been shedding bloody tears. I tried my best to wipe it away with the corner of the sheet, but it was futile. Lizzie came to stand behind me, she was speaking but I couldn’t hear her. She reached out and put her hand on my shoulder. I couldn’t feel it. I couldn’t feel anything. 

Benjamin was standing on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the sea. Dressed in his usual black clothing, he was a imposing figure against the new fallen white snow. He would often come up here when he was feeling down and think about Dustin. This place was his solace, where he could be alone with his thoughts and away from the worries of the real world. No one knew about this place, or ever came up here, it was his own little secret. Here, away from everything trivial and mundane, he could be alone with his thoughts and feelings. Music flowed from him here, as no other place. Countless songs were whispered on the winds that surrounded him here, they flowed through him and to his guitar like water, crashing with a endless melody that made the heart soar with triumph or cower in fear. The bitter cold breeze today carried whispers of another coming storm, forecasted by the ominous black storm clouds that rolled in over head. He pulled his jacket tighter around him and watched as the waves crashed down upon the beach far below. The tide was rising, washing everything away that he knew. 

A small hand reached up for his fingertips. “Daddy, it’s time to go.”


End file.
